Saturday, May 1, 2010

The Creation was brought into being for the True Believer

God hath ordained every good thing,
whether created in the heavens or in the earth,
for such of His servants as truly believe in Him - Baha'u'llah

In her wonderful book, "Fire on the Mountain-Top," Gloria Faizi writes an account of some of the Baha'i prisoners in Tihran:

One of the prisoners, a rich man who was able to buy all he wished in prison, came to know that the Bahá'ís had no means of buying food and were not often given the meager ration of bread which the other prisoners received. His heart was touched and he thought of a plan by which he could give them a good meal one day. He said he had made a vow to provide a dinner for all the prisoners. When the food arrived, however, the guards would not let the Bahá'ís touch it. "You are not counted among the others," they said. But the host insisted that his vow included everybody present, and that it would be useless if a single person were left out. He had later said to a friend: "The fools did not realize that it was for the sake of those few roses that I watered all the thorns." A few days later he also gave away three silver coins to each prisoner, so as to have an excuse to give some money to the Bahá'ís.

This story reminds me of one of the principles in our Writings: That God brought the creation into being, and endowed it with the mantle of beauty, for the true believers. In one of His Tablets, Baha'u'llah writes of "the true believer, whose existence and life are to be regarded as the originating purpose of all creation" (Gleanings LXXIII)

Though He does not use the term "true believer" when referring to the Bab; in the Words of Paradise Baha'u'llah refers to the Bab as "him who is the greatest on earth," and I feel that this principle applies perforce to God's Manifestations, who are, of course, above the true believers.

The Bab also wrote of these people for whom God brought the creation into being:I beg Thee by Thyself, O my God, my Lord and my Master, to intercede in my behalf. I have fled from Thy justice unto Thy mercy. For my refuge I am seeking Thee and such as turn not away from Thy path, even for a twinkling of an eye -- they for whose sake Thou didst create the creation as a token of Thy grace and bounty.It is my understanding from these verses, that God created this earth, with all of its beauties, and its joys, and its magnificence -- for the true believers. All of the rest of us members of humanity are the recipients of His largesse, living in their borrowed light, like those other prisoners. He made the earth this wonderful, for the greatest among us. As He wrote:

Should a man wish to adorn himself with the ornaments of the earth, to wear its apparels, or partake of the benefits it can bestow, no harm can befall him, if he alloweth nothing whatever to intervene between him and God, for God hath ordained every good thing, whether created in the heavens or in the earth, for such of His servants as truly believe in Him. Eat ye, O people, of the good things which God hath allowed you, and deprive not yourselves from His wondrous bounties. Render thanks and praise unto Him, and be of them that are truly thankful.
(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah CXXVIII, p. 276)

I think that is why we read, that when Baha'u'llah traveled, He often stopped at places of great beauty. He was particularly entranced by them. God created the beauties of the earth for His loved ones, for His true believers, how much more so for His Manifestations. Their perception and enjoyment of these beauties are keener. They, and not those who are trapped in a materialistic view, more richly enjoy God's gifts, material or spiritual. All of these things draw the true believers closer to God.

God brought all things into being to help every person to choose to attain to the station of the true believer:

O Son of Bounty!
Out of the wastes of nothingness, with the clay of My command I made thee to appear, and have ordained for thy training every atom in existence and the essence of all created things.
(Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words #29)

"Blessed is he who alloweth nothing whatsoever to intervene between him and his Lord. No harm, assuredly, can befall him if he partaketh with justice of the benefits of this world, inasmuch as We have created all things for such of Our servants as truly believe in God."Baha'u'llah, Tablet to Napoleon III, "Summons of the Lord of Hosts, page 77, para. 146.

"Blessed is he who alloweth nothing whatsoever to intervene between him and his Lord. No harm, assuredly, can befall him if he partaketh with justice of the benefits of this world, inasmuch as We have created all things for such of Our servants as truly believe in God."Baha'u'llah, Tablet to Napoleon III, "Summons of the Lord of Hosts, page 77, para. 146.

"Blessed is he who alloweth nothing whatsoever to intervene between him and his Lord. No harm, assuredly, can befall him if he partaketh with justice of the benefits of this world, inasmuch as We have created all things for such of Our servants as truly believe in God."Baha'u'llah, Tablet to Napoleon III, "Summons of the Lord of Hosts, page 77, para. 146.